South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is banking on the former Naver Corp. CEO Han Seong Sook to optimize the country's tech capabilities for future development and guarantee that its advantages are more evenly distributed throughout the economy.
Han is set to become the nation's second female premier, pending the national assembly's approval of her appointment, bringing a former technology executive into one of the country's top political roles.
Han's tapping highlights Lee's dedication to bolstering future growth of the domestic economy and the necessity to harness a broader array of industries.
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Throughout her five years leading Naver, a firm often referred to as the Google of Korea, Han contributed to expanding its revenue sources beyond just its search engine model to include e-commerce, fintech, and content creation.
The minister for small enterprises and startups started her career as a tech journalist, later moving to a startup search platform and then to senior roles at Naver. She began her political career after departing from the company in 2024.
Her appointment would again show that women can attain the highest levels of political power in the country, even though their overall representation in influential positions still trails behind that of other developed countries. Park Geun Hye was the first woman to hold the presidency in the nation from 2013 to 2017.
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The Blue House stated that Han’s background in leading a significant tech firm and her government experience make her ideal for supervising what it termed a national shift focused on artificial intelligence and digital advancement.
Lee emphasized the necessity of identifying a broader array of growth drivers in a speech commemorating his first year in office.
Han oversaw a time of predominantly swift expansion at Naver. The company’s stock price reached its highest point during her time, coinciding with the pandemic encouraging users globally to turn to internet services. Together with Kakao Corp, the firm is now regarded as a leader in online services and one of the nation’s leading internet firms.
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A major concern Han must tackle as premier is the perceived inequity surrounding the substantial bonuses awarded to certain employees in the chip industry.
The problem has highlighted worries that growth is overly concentrated on a limited sector of the economy, with the advantages not reaching the broader population.
The governing Democratic Party embraced the nomination, stating that Han would aid in extending the advantages of a semiconductor and export-driven surge to small enterprises and local vendors, while promoting the government's AI initiative.